Coffee My Dear?
by Ink Runs Through My Veins
Summary: She was a waitress. He was her regular customer. So why couldn't she stay away? And why is his ex-girlfriend after her all of a sudden? All Dawn knows is, she never signed up for this! Rated T for language.


Coffee My Dear?

Silver Psychic

I don't own the characters. I attach strings to them and shout, "Dance marionettes! Dance for my pleasure!"

* * *

She was just a waitress. An ordinary waitress trying to earn money for college.

He was the most annoying customer she had ever met. And she worked in a teashop. You get a lot of stuck up posers trying to be English and failing.

He just walked in one day, ordered a cup of coffee, paid and left. He then proceeded to do this for the next few weeks. Then weeks turned into months until he came in every Saturday. And every time, he always said the same sentence:

"How do you like your coffee sir?"

"It could be better."

How dare he! She was the best coffee maker in the shop! She practiced on her days off! She worked her butt off to make that coffee the best in _Cilian's Tea Emporium_! The boss had given her a promotion just because of how well she made that damn coffee!

But that was fine. If he wanted to be a stuck-up, rude little I'm-so-much-better-than-you, that was fine. He would cave eventually. No man had ever tasted her coffee and had not given her the best reviews.

* * *

He came in again. Dawn smirked as she welcomed him and then escorted him to his table. He always requested to sit there for some reason. Dawn hated it and hated the fact that every time she always punched in, her boss always gave her that table. It was a dinky little one-seater that was was away from the doors and their view of the ocean. It was like he isolated himself on purpose and liked it.

But that was no concern of Dawn's. She simply gave him his coffee (and waited for the complement that would come _**someday**_) and gives him his check and her regards that he rot in a ditch someplace (Though she keeps those to herself. Cilian would kill her if he heard her saying that to a regular customer).

So why was she so curious about him? She is nothing to him and vice-versa. Not to mention she's normally not this noisy. For heaven's sake, she didn't eve know his name! Heck, he doesn't even tip that well!

So why couldn't she get him out of her head?

* * *

It was just a normal day. Dawn had arrived at the shop, punched in and took her customers to their sections.

_**He **_had just walked through the door. Dawn set her teeth and went to welcome him. "Welcome to _Cilian's_. Would you like you like your usual table?" He nodded. Dawn's eyebrow twitched, but she ignored it. "Well then, if you will please–"

"Paul!"

As he paused so did Dawn. The sound of running footsteps became louder until the shop's doors slammed open.

The woman was a young girl, around Dawn's age with twin pigtails and a school uniform of all things. Why she was even dressed like that when it was Saturday was beyond Dawn's comprehension. All that mattered was that when she called out the name _Paul_, the boy stopped walking. The girl noticed and sped up until she was beside him. "Paul please!"

"Forget it Candace." His tenor voice was cold. "I'm not listening to anything you say. Get over it and go back to your boy toy."

"But Paul–"

"Excuse me?" Dawn interrupted, seeing how the other customers were starting to get a little noisy. "But could you please tone it down a bit? I'm afraid you're starting to bother the customers."

The Candace girl turned her attention to Dawn and glared at her. "How about you go away and actually do your job?"

Dawn clenched her teeth, but kept her poker face. "I am doing my job by asking people like you to quiet down. Now, shall I get a table for two or will I have to get the manager?"

"Little bi–"

"Enough Candace." Paul cut in. "Stop the dramatic act. We both know you don't give a damn."

Candace started to pout. "Fine! See if I care. You'll be crawling back to me anyways!"

"If I remember correctly," Paul's cold tone became wry. "you were the one who was begging to go out with me in the first place." She flushed and angrily walked out the door. He turned back to the stunned waitress. "If you could just please lead me to my table, that would be great."

Dawn could tell by the tenseness in his voice that he was not happy. She nodded. "Then if you will please come with me."

She led him to his table, but didn't give him a menu. "Shall I assume you a want your regular?" He nodded. "Then I'll be right back."

Not even five minutes later Dawn was back with a steaming cup of black coffee with two sugars and a cream, just like he liked it. He raised a brow. "This is faster than usual."

She half-smiled. "I try. It's also on me."

He frowned. "If you're pitying me–"

"Its not pity. Its...sort of a thank you."

"Thank you?"

"You're welcome." She giggled as he frowned harder. "You have to admit you walked into that one."

"Get on with it."

She rolled her eyes. "Alright alright. Its a thank you for motivating me. No one has ever insulted my coffee before. You were the first, and it motivated me to keep trying to impress you and making my coffee better every time you came. It made my coffee better and it allowed me to improve."

He raised a brow. "Thats an odd reason you know that?"

Dawn stuck her tongue out at him. "I know." She smiled softly. "But I still have to thank you. So, no check. But," She winked. "if you really want to pay, you could just leave me an bigger tip." Not wanting to hear his protests (or complaining), she walked away.

Later when she went back to his table, all she found as a note and two tens.

_Thanks Troublesome._

Dawn smiled and sighed. Even when thanking her he just _**had **_to insult her.

* * *

Next week should have been different. It should have been peaceful and full of good tips.

But this is Dawn's luck we're talking about.

About half and hour after she punched in and got her tables, she heard the customary ring of the bell hung above the door. Standing in the waiting area was the girl who was bothering her regular customer. Candace if she remembered correctly. Sighing and cursing her boss internally, she put on a food service smile and walked over to the other girl. "Welcome to _Cilian__'s_. How many in your party this afternoon?"

"I didn't come to have cup of tea." Despite the coldness in her voice, it was still high pitched.

Dawn nodded. "Alright then, coffee it is. If you will please fo–"

"_**You're the slut who's been seducing my boyfriend, aren't you**_!"

Dawn blinked. Did she really just shout that in the middle of the entire cafe? Dawn sighed and shouted to the nearest waitress, "Misty! I'm going on break!"

Misty blinked. "But you just got here!"

"Tell Cilian I'll do an extra half hour of shifts for free." Without waiting for a reply, Dawn grabbed the girls hand and dragged her outside. Marching to the little park across the street, she threw Candace away from her and put her hands on her hips, trying to look at least a little intimidating in her uniform. "Are you crazy? You can't just go in there and shout that to the world? What if my boss fires me? I need this job!"

"A-And I'm supposed to care? Y-You're probably the slut who–"

"Who the heck is a slut, you pig!"

"Candace?" They turned around to see Paul angrily walking towards them. He put himself between Dawn and Candace, as if he was afraid one of them might hurt the other. Candace unhappily noticed that since his back was to Dawn, it looked like he was protecting _**her**_. "What are you doing to Dawn?"

Candace snorted. "Nothing she doesn't deserve. She's the one who stole you from me."

"For the last freaking time, I didn't steal your boyfriend!" She shouted exasperatedly, coming out from behind Paul and throwing her hands up. "I didn't even know his name," She pointed to the guy who started all this trouble. "until yesterday when you shouted it loud enough for _**China**_ to hear it! And now you've probably cost me my job! Are you happy now?"

Candace flushed. "I'll never be happy unless Paul comes back to me!"

"Then consider yourself permanently unhappy." His voice was back to being cold again. "I don't normally hit girls, but for you I would gladly make an exception. Stay away from Dawn and you won't get hurt."

Candace started to tear up, but they could tell her tears were fake. "You...you're leaving me?"

"Yeah. Don't come near me or Dawn ever again." With a loud and piercing wail, Candace turned tail and ran away. Paul sighed before turning to Dawn. "I'm sorry about th–"

"Shoot!" Dawn suddenly shook her head. "Sorry, but I'm going to be late for my shift!" Before running off, she turned around and shouted, "I get off at six!"

Later, one of her coworkers would ask her why her face was so red. Dawn merely blushed even more before hurrying off to the kitchen.

* * *

Dawn sighed as she collapsed into a chair in the staff room. "Thank God. Today was brutal, even more so than usual."

One of her coworkers, May, nodded in agreement. "I know." She suddenly grinned slyly. "But you've got a certain someone waiting for you after work, don't you?"

Dawn flushed. "H-He's probably just going to apologize for his ex. No big deal."

"Dawn?" Another friend, Leaf, poked her head through the door. "A guy with purple hair and a frown is asking for you. He says he has to talk to you." She suddenly smirked. "Its the guy who always comes in on Saturdays."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "I want to hear nothing from the both of you." She paused. "And I'm not spilling about happened!"

"Aw come on!"

"Don't leave us hanging like that, meanie!"

"Get back here!"

* * *

"Hey!" Dawn practically bounced to him, glad to finally be out of her uniform. "Sorry I took awhile. Did you wait long?"

He rolled his eyes. "You have the most annoying friends."

"I will kill them!" She raged in her mind. Out loud she said, "Sorry about them. I haven't dated in a while and they think you are...a potential..." She trailed off, her flushing face portraying her embarrassment. But she waved it off. "Sorry. Never mind my friends. I'm sick of this place and I need to get out of here. Anywhere you wanna go?"

* * *

They ended up at the nearby park.

"I am really sorry about my friends." She began. "They really don't know how to be subtle."

He rolled his eyes. "At least they're not my friends. Hell, I don't even know why I call them that. One's a know-it-all flirt, one is an arrogant pretty-boy, and the other has a black hole for a stomach and acts like a monkey."

She giggled. "They sound interesting. One of my friends is the nagging type, one is a bookworm and one is so ditzy it's a miracle she's even allowed out of her house." She paused. "You know, we should introduce our friends to each other."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "The opportunity to make more friends?"

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever." There was a brief silence before he spoke again. "I am sorry about Candace. She's nuts."

"You're the one who went out with her." Dawn slyly reminded. She giggled at his frown. "But please go on."

"Well, I've known her since middle school. She's about a year younger than me, but she's been following me around since high school. Hell, she even followed me to college."

Dawn winced. "Wow."

He groaned. "When she came to my campus, my friends told me I literally went as white as a ghost. She just appeared out of no where and suddenly jumped on me."

She couldn't help but giggle. "Wow. You're really desirable aren't you?"

Paul rolled his eyes again. "I think it was more of the fact that I wasn't as responsive to her flirting as others. When I finally did agree to go out with her, it was mostly to get her off my back. When she suddenly announced that we were dating to our entire high school, I thought she had gone off the deep end, the hard way. And the very next day I caught her in a closet, half naked, with some other guy."

Dawn's mouth dropped open. "Bitch! And she had the nerve to call me a slut! Hah! Thats rich!"

He winced. "I am sorry you were dragged into this. I didn't think she would go after you too, much less threaten you."

She rolled her eyes. "You call that threatening? Hah! I could take her down in a heartbeat, no sweat."

He raised a brow. "You seem pretty confident that you would last in a fight."

"With her? I could take her with one hand behind my back while making tea. Did you ever notice how wimpy she is? Even if she initiated a fight, she'd be shaking so much she'd look like a scared Chihuahua."

He smiled. "Thats a lot of confidence for someone so tiny."

She flushed. "I'm five four! Thats average!"

"Averagely short."

She stuck her tongue out. "Just because you're a giant doesn't mean you have to make fun of everybody shorter than you. Anyways, I need to head home. I'll see you Saturday with your usual." She turned to walk away.

"Your coffee is the best I've ever tasted."

She smirked and paused. "Say that again?"

He rolled his eyes. "Your coffee is the most non-crappy out of all the shops around here. Thats why I keep coming back."

She rolled her eyes. "Well thank you very much." And started to walk away again.

"And Dawn?"

"Yeah?" She stopped again.

"I meant it could be better, _**if**_ I had the right person to share it with."

"And you've found that someone?"

He gazed at her for a moment. "Yeah, I think I have Troublesome."

* * *

Free cookies if you can guess who Paul's friends are.


End file.
